Nakano Broadway, Tokyo: Otaku Paradise

After Gohtokuji, we headed off to another place I'd been dying to visit- Nakano Broadway. If you don't know, Akihabara, Ikebukuro's Otome Road and Nakano Broadway are all pretty good for otaku, but Akiba is a lot more guy-centric (I definitely felt a little out of place when I went there), Otome Road apparently has more girl-oriented stuff, and Nakano broadway is really good for collecting old toys, merchandise etc. I didn't get to Ikebukuro (cry) but I definitely preferred Nakano broadway to Akiba, although I do think you should pick Akiba if you only have time to visit one place. (Or head to Den Den Town in Osaka. #Osakaforever) I'm no hardcore otaku, and I think even people that don't like anime at all should go visit somewhere like this to get a glimpse into nerd culture in Japan. There's plenty to see!

To get there, get the train to Nakano station, walk through the Sun Mall and then you arrive at Nakano Broadway~

As expected, there were tonnes of Gacha machines! This one was the 謎- mystery- Gacha.

We found the legendary 1000 yen vending machine!! Insert 1000 yen, and you have the chance to win really expensive items like games consoles.... but usually it's just cheap random things you almost definitely wouldn't want. One of the TV programmes I really like, モヤモヤさまぁ～ず２, usually feature these. (also side note, if you're bored, I'd totally recommend watching it.)

The Gacha at the bottom in the middle shows another... legendary aspect of Japanese culture: ブラセラ, selling worn girls clothes, especially underwear. I know it does happen, but I'm not sure if this particular one was real. Obviously I didn't try and buy it to see.

There are 12 separate Mandarake stores in Nakano Broadway, each selling different things. This one was sci fi themed, I think. There were magical girl themed ones, one that was suuuper expensive and had like retro movie props, a doll one... and one just called 'weird shop'. it was really cool.

Some of the shops were just crammed full of stuff, so much so that it was hard to actually walk around in there.

Another interesting discovery: the 鬱, or depression Gacha. I guess this was made up of lots of different random gacha. You don't know what type you'll get, so you'll probably be disappointed. I got a slime from Dragon Quest, and Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh, so I was very happy!

We saw so many "Otaku" things while we were there: Along with tonnes of manga/ anime goods, there were Maid Cafes, a massage parlour, a shop full of model trains, a shop whose window was just tenga cups... It was an experience! I'm kicking myself for not going to the maid cafe tbh

We also found a cute wall where I got some OOTD pics :)

Here's my mini haul from the day: A sailor Moon wand and charm,(I couldn't resist) and the Sakaki Gatcha :)

I also bought a mini shinkansen model for my dad and an original Cel from the Slayers anime for Lizzie. It was only like 1000 yen! Crazy! (Of course most of the cels from famous anime like eva or sailor moon were a lot more expensive, but Slayers is a little more nice. Lucky me~

After Nakano Broadway, we headed off to the Izakaya and Karaoke, and then I went back to Osaka the next day. Thanks for reading and I hope y'all enjoyed the posts from my Tokyo adventure~

-Amy xoxo

In case you missed them, here are all of the other posts from my Golden week Tokyo trip:

Tokyo: Where I stayed// Kawaii Monster Cafe in Harajuku, Tokyo //Going up the Tokyo Sky Tree//Asakusa and Sensouji at night//Escaping Tokyo: A visit to Mount Takao// Sushi, Odaiba and the Daikanransha//Kitty Heaven at Gohtokuji// Tokyo OOTDs